Introduction
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock is one of the greatest film directors of all time. He is considered a master when it comes to making suspense, horror and thrillers. Even after half a century his horror movies are capable of sending shivers down the spine of viewers. Hitchcock directed about fifty films in his career. North by Northwest, Psycho and The Birds are considered his greatest works. All of these movies have their own irreplaceable space in world cinema. Many creators still draw inspirations from Hitchcock’s works. In a poll conducted in Britain’s daily Telegraph, Hitchcock was voted the best director of the century. “The Birds” is my personal favorite of Hitchcock’s creations. It’s a classic in every way imaginable and even after watching it so many times it’s still the best horror/thriller movie I have ever seen. In many movies, creators have used ghost, aliens etc. to scare people, but Hitchcock thinks differently, he has used the birds to scare people in this movie.
History
Plot Summary
The plot of “The Birds” is based on Daphne Du Maurier’s short story of the same name. The plot revolves around the mysterious happening in bodega bay, California. Its main cast includes Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels, Rod Taylor as Mitch Brenner, Jessica Tandy as Lydia Brenner, Veronica Cartwright as Cathy Brenner and Suzanne Pleshette as Annie Hayworth. The story starts with Melanie a rich socialite meeting Mitch in a pet store. She gets completely bowled by him during their first meeting and drives all the way to his hometown to meet him. At the same time strange incidents of birds attacking humans begin. Birds which usually don’t attack or harm people are found slowly threatening humans. As the story moves ahead slowly, a strong bond between Melanie and Mitch begins to develop. More and more attacks by birds take place. No one has any about why birds the calm creatures of the sky are attacking people. Mitch rescues Melanie from bird attack near a restaurant. When they return they find Annie killed in a bird attack and Cathy around watching all this. This causes lot of trauma for her. All of the survivors take refuge in Mitch’s home. At night Melanie hears sounds from roof top and takes a flash light to check it. To her horror she finds, the birds that they are running away from have entered the house, the birds attack her. The film ends with Mitch trying to take her to a hospital in his car as radio broadcast informs of more bird attacks in nearby communities.
Features
Even till the end Hitchcock does not disclose the reason behind birds attacking humans. He left it to the imagination of his viewers and let them theorize for themselves. Since there was no CGI at those times it was very difficult in shooting the bird attack scenes. Since birds the villain of this movie had to be shown in hundreds of numbers, Hitchcock cleverly used mixed footage to achieve the desired effects. He used shots of life folks of birds and bird like dummies in his scenes. The backbone of this movie is its sound effect and editing. The movie does not have a conventional type of sound track. The movie moves with chilling silence followed by sound of vicious bird attacks. Oskar Sala and Remi Gassmann are music composers for this movie. Editing of the movie by George Tomasini is another highlight.
Tips and comments
Critical Acclaim and awards.
The movie was nominated for Oscar in best special effects category and various awards around the world. It was also well received by many of the top critics in the world. In honor of this movie birds the villains in this movie were nominated for the American Film Institute’s heroes and villain’s list.
